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The surgeon said the surgery went well, and I’m now home with a heavily patched eye, glasses sitting on the end of my nose (see “heavily patched eye”) , still obviously affected by the anesthesia drugs…but wanted to thank you all again for your good wishes & prayers, and assure you that I’m doing well. Actual results await the unveiling tomorrow of the operated eye and its gradual return to what will be its normal vision from now on. But the basic health stuff–I’ve had water and food, and other bodily functions are proceeding according to plan. There are details that might be interesting (seen from within, part of the procedure appeared to produce visuals rather like the APOD pictures from the Hubble and other big telescopes–like being in or near one of the nebulas photographed in false-color, with some shape emitting little lightning flashes in electric blue-white. Space battles? Or was I that drunk on the anesthesia?)

Tired, needing to go back to sleep, but wanted to alleviate anxiety. More later.

Glad to hear things went well. I can definitely sympathize. I had 2 cataract surgeries in my early 30s and now at 42, may be looking at 2 more surgeries to clear up a couple of other issues and I am now on the list of potentials for clinical trials in an experimental treatment for my RP, so while my experiences may be different, I definitely have some idea at least. Hope things go great with your recovery and that the results are beyond the best.

Since I will probably need the procedure sometime in the next few years, I am extremely curious about the experience from the patient’s POV, and especially how one keeps from wanting to close the eye, knowing that an instrument is about to enter the eyeball. No one has been able to explain that to me so far.

Anesthetic drops are used and your eye is taped open for the procedure. A few eyelashes might be lost and/or trimmed. Many patients prefer to be sedated but it is not mandatory. I have a lot of allergies so we decided that sedatives were unwise.

The experience was interesting to observe and a little traumatic but I watched several videos prior to the surgery and knew what to expect. In my case I could see as soon as the lens was inserted. It did help that the surgeon is a family friend who had operated on my eyes previously but many surgeons specialize in cataract surgery which means they are very experienced. You really do not see much of the instruments. They are quite small and they approach the eye from the periphery. I do not remember any pain. Generally, only one eye is done. That helps. My surgeries were 2 weeks apart and I was able to work the next day. That is not true for everyone and I only need minor correction for astigmatism.

Next day report: Eye is now unpatched. Vision is not settled down (they estimate 2 to 2 1/2 weeks for it to get to a permanent state) which means I won’t be driving for that long plus a week for new glasses to be prescribed and obtained. Vision is better than it was with the cataract, and better than the unoperated eye, except that the astigmatism (which isn’t minor) is uncorrected. Otherwise straight vertical lines (edge of this window on the computer) have a series of waves.

All in all, a good result. I have three kinds of drops to use daily, some of them 3x daily, so it’s not like I’ll get bored with nothing to do. Lucky I have two pairs of socks set up to work on for the duration.

My father was told not to drive for six weeks after he had his first cataract done; he said it was nonsense as after only a few days he could see better than he had for years. So after the second one was done, he carefully didn’t ask about driving, and as they didn’t bring up the subject, he drove my daughter to her wedding two days later!

Meanwhile, once you have had both eyes done and settled, you’ll probably find you see better than for years, especially when you get a new prescription.

Thanks to Mary W for the details of how the eye is prepared for surgery. Fortunately I may only need to have one eye done; for some reason, the cataract developing in the other eye seems to have arrested at a point where I am unaware of it. But I will need full correction from eyeglasses afterward, since it is only one eye, and I have severe astigmatism and focal imbalance. (I don’t care–I look better in glasses, anyway.)
Speedy healing for Elizabeth! Can’t imagine anyone who needs her eyesight more!